Previously I've looked at a number of advertising based comics...for instance...
Wonder comic (Esso) here
Levi's comic here
Bovril brigade comic here
Money Fun comic here
Wall's ice cream comic 'Chill' here
Ivory castle arrow comic here
Signal comic here
Salmon Wise with Alaska Sam here
Today it's the turn of the Zodiac toy shop and issue 1 of their 'super free comic' - Z. There was an issue 2 but I've not got one. Yesterday (here) I looked at the first half of the Z comic, here's what else was in Z...
Z comic - Simon Bear and the mysterious music by Peter Holam-Read
Posts about George Nicholas were among the very first things I ever ran on the blog - check them out here
The 'Martin and the Martians' cartoon in the Zodiac comic is listed as 'uncredited' but if you look at the first frame it says 'N. Benson / M. Gibas'. I am Nigel C. Benson, the author of this cartoon, and Mike Gibas is the illustrator. The story about the deaf boy Martin was publlished in four parts.
ReplyDeleteHi Nigel, thanks so much for getting in touch and for the info. - would it be possible for you to e-mail me at rsheaf2001ATyahoo.co.uk [replacing the AT with an @]? thanks again
DeleteHi Nigel, when you say "in four parts" do you mean there were 4 issues of Z comic published? thanks again
DeleteHello Richard, I've only today seen your question to me. I had no notification of it so I didn't know it was here. I looked at this page while thinking about the talented illustrator Mike Gibas because I found out three days ago that he tagically passed away on 21 Sep 2025 at the age of 63. I had not seen him for a long time but we kept in touch online.
DeleteTo answer your question Richard: yes, the children's story of "Martin And The Martians" by N. Benson & M. Gibas (Mike Gibas and I) was published in a series of four issues of the Z Comic which was distributed by the Zodiac Toy Store chain in the UK. So there were at least four issues of that comic, although I doubt if there were any more because the design company responsible for producing the comics was not well run and was in financial difficulties. I think it folded soon afterwards. Mike Gibas was working full-time for them at the time but I wasn't. I used to have the original set of four Z Comics with our cartoon story but sadly it was lost in a house move. I'd love to see them all again. I was at least very pleased to see the first page of our graphic story posted here. I will send you an email as requested.